Shane Yeager✦Dir / DPBooking Summer + Fall ’26
Director & Cinematographer · Founder, CineSalon

Hi, I’m Shane

A hands-on director & cinematographer who learned the job by shipping it. I make strategy-first films for brands, agencies, and the kind of institutions that don’t do second takes — real production value, built to actually perform.

Work with me↗Watch the reel
Portrait of director and cinematographer Shane YeagerShane Yeager · DC★ 40 Under 40
The short version

Learned by making & shipping.

Shane Yeager built his career from hands-on production outward — from early broadcast and entertainment camera work to founding CineSalon, a company known for campaign-minded video across government, agency, brand, and association work.

His through-line is simple: great visuals aren't enough — video should clarify, earn attention, and move audiences to act. He reads as a hands-on builder who learned by making and shipping.

His public credits connect him to the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Air Force/JBER, the U.S. Department of State, the Maryland Judiciary, the Washington Nationals, Park Hyatt, JOOLA, Toyota, and the National Restaurant Association — plus narrative credits including Rabbit's Day Off, Uso-Tsuki, and Man at Arms: Reforged.

Training: university coursework in marketing and entrepreneurship; Adobe-certified; FAA Part 107 drone license.

10+
Years directing & shooting
CineSalon
Founder
Adobe · FAA Part 107
Certifications
The path

How I got here

  1. High school

    Started in media

    Began making video as a teenager; by 18 had won a national business award for video production.

  2. 2012

    Beach Boys 50th

    Shot a year-long documentary feature tied to the Beach Boys' 50th-anniversary reunion tour.

  3. 2014

    CineSalon takes shape

    Results-driven production work for brands, agencies, and institutions dates back to 2014.

  4. 2018

    U.S. Coast Guard

    Began multi-year recruiting + brand campaign work alongside LMD/LMO — later recognized with Hermes, ADDY, NAGC, and SABRE honors.

  5. 2019

    ShortKlips

    The operational overload of running DCV sparked ShortKlips — software to fix production management, collaboration, and payments.

  6. 2020

    JBER + JOOLA

    Turned a cancelled air show into a 37-camera, 360°/VR campaign with 2M+ reported views; relaunched JOOLA across the U.S. and Germany.

  7. 2024

    Writing the craft

    Published hands-on pieces on AI video tooling and audio-video marketing.

  8. 2025

    Scaling up

    Technical workflow writing (QNAP NAS, Blackmagic URSA Cine 10GbE); CineSalon's Los Angeles expansion and a Maryland Judiciary master contract.

The operator

Credible end to end

Shane works like a director who has also carried the top line and the bottom line — fluent in concept, camera, and post, but just as comfortable in budgets, logistics, and the workflow design that keeps a production moving. The result is work that looks distinctive and still ships on time, on budget, and on brief.

Adobe Certified Expert

Premiere Pro + the Creative Cloud video stack

FAA Part 107

Licensed commercial drone pilot

Founder, CineSalon

Bi-coastal production studio — Washington, D.C. + Los Angeles

Co-founder, ShortKlips

Production-management software platform

Off the clock

A few things

On set

Where the work
actually happens.

A camera, a crew that likes each other, and a lot of long days. Hover for the story.

The crew in full costume on a shoot
Off the clock-ish

If the crew’s having a good time, it shows up on screen.

What I do

One director,
the whole pipeline.

From creative development to the camera to the final cut — no handoffs, no telephone game.

01

Direction & Cinematography

Leading the creative and the camera — story, frame, and performance.

02

Documentary & Interview Production

Authentic interviews and field documentary with editorial polish.

03

Public-Sector / Regulated-Environment Production

Cleared, compliant production for government and institutional clients.

04

Aerial & Drone-Enabled Shoots

FAA Part 107 aerial cinematography integrated into the shoot plan.

05

Creative Development

Concepting, treatments, and visual strategy ahead of production.

06

Campaign-Minded Video Strategy

Video that clarifies, earns attention, and moves audiences to act.

07

Commercial & Branded Films

Campaign-minded brand and agency films built to perform.

Recognition

A few that
meant something.

2026
Gold ADDY
U.S. Coast Guard (LMD + CineSalon)
project
2024
Business Elite 40 Under 40
Honoree
personal
2023
Best Thriller — Uso-Tsuki
Uso-Tsuki
film
2020
VEGA / Canopus Award
U.S. Air Force "Operation COVID Strike"
project
2019
SABRE Awards — Top-5 North America Nomination
U.S. Coast Guard
project
2017
Official Selection — Under The Same Sun
Under The Same Sun
film
The real questions

What it’s like
to work with me.

Always. I direct and I run the camera — you get one head making both calls, not a handoff between two.
The earlier the better. Half the value is in the planning — strategy, look, logistics — long before anyone yells action.
Yes. Cleared, compliant, and calm. Government and institutional shoots are a big part of what I do.
FAA Part 107 licensed. If aerial helps the story, it’s planned into the shoot from day one — not bolted on.
Perfect. Figuring that out together is the fun part. Bring me the goal and the audience and we’ll find the film.
Both — that's the point. I direct and run the camera, so the look and the story are decided by the same person instead of negotiated across a handoff. Most of my work is credited as Director / DP.
Bi-coastal — Washington, DC and Los Angeles — and I travel for the work constantly. Projects have taken me across the U.S. and overseas, from Alaska to Germany to multi-location hospitality shoots. If the story lives somewhere, that's where we go.
It scales to the job. I've run lean creator-led shoots with a small crew and staffed up large studio builds — set builders, carpenters, wardrobe/makeup/craft, full camera departments — when the scope called for it. The crew is sized to the shoot, never the other way around.
FAA Part 107 licensed for drone work, and an Adobe Certified Expert. Aerial is planned into the shoot from day one when it serves the story, and the post side is handled by someone who actually knows the tools.
As a production partner, not a competitor. I've collaborated with agencies and in-house creative teams — concepting, scouting, crewing, producing, and posting — and I'm comfortable slotting in as an extension of an existing team and matching its cadence.
Yes — that's where pre-production earns its keep. I design from the edit backward so a single shoot can carry an entire campaign: I've delivered twelve broadcast spots from a two-day shoot for a season launch, and routinely plan one shoot to produce many cutdowns and formats.
Range is on purpose. Public-facing work spans government and defense recruiting, sports, hospitality, automotive, consumer electronics and gaming, associations, and brand launches. The throughline isn't a category — it's complexity: distributed crews, real logistics, regulated environments, and campaigns that need more than one hero cut.
Because most of what makes a production go smoothly is invisible — prep, clarity, logistics, and how footage actually moves from camera to post to delivery. I came up running productions and a production company, so I think in systems as well as images.